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The number of blue litters being bred is increasing year-on-year. As you will read on the BRS page of the newsletter there were 4 litters with 'colour not recognised' puppies in the first three months of 2014. The Committee has been working with the other Weimaraner Clubs to come up with a solution to the problem of blue dogs being registered as Weimaraners.

The description of the colour in the standard is being discussed by the standards committee at the Kennel Club and we should have an update in the next edition, meanwhile the Kennel Club has placed a warning about novel colours on their puppy page and all Weimaraner Clubs have highlighted 'the colour is grey' on their websites.

Blues are easy to identify, however there are dozens of grey siblings and descendants of these blue dogs in existence and their numbers are increasing too. Although they do not carry the blue gene, they come from blue lines. When buying puppies or searching on-line for stud dogs, we advise members to check the pedigrees carefully and ensure that they are no blue dogs present. Stud dog owners too must verify that any bitch presented to them does not have any blue parentage in her pedigree.

Obviously it is impossible to keep track of all the descendants of blue dogs so members are advised to visit www.weimaranerpedigrees.com to check. Administrators of the database are adding the phrase 'Descendants of blue' to the notes section of an individual dog's page.

If in doubt please contact myself, Sally Morgan, or any other member of the Committee and we will carry out a check for you. In time we hope to have a comprehensive list on the website.

We have also noticed that the blue breeders are getting around the "colour not recognised" option when registering their puppies by calling them 'roe grey'. We have reported suspect litters to the registration department of the Kennel Club. If you notice suspicious litters or see inconsistencies of description of puppies, for example blue in the advert but roe grey in the Breed Supplement please let me know.